5 Dont’s for an interview at WeAreHolidays

The views expressed in this post are purely the opinions of a WeAreHolidays recruiter, and maybe not all companies hire the way we do. The sensible ones, should, though.

The post’s been created primarily for a ‘writer’s profile’. However, some of these points could apply to other roles as well.

1) Don’t come with a CV whose opening line or stated objective is

‘to be part of a reputed organization and be part of a challenging environment, that will help me hone my skills so that I can help both the organization and myself grow as much as possible ..’

Are you serious? Is that really your objective for life, or even for your professional career? We want honest people, someone’s who’s a little more real, or maybe we want personalities. A character. Someone who thinks from the soul, and writes like that. There was once a girl who’s CV’s first line read

‘to be happy doing whatever I do.’

That was the first and last thing we read in her CV. She got an interview call based only on that, and her writing.

Write what you think, and not according to what template CVs are usually like. That’s the first step to take when one wants to become a writer, to think of their own.

We don’t really care how much you scored in your tenth. You were 16 then, and it doesn’t matter if you were not slogging, and were just having fun. That’s what you were meant to do when you were 16.

The Bottom line:  The interviewer wants to see a personality in the CV.

 

2) Do not come if you do not know the capitals of at least 20 countries in the world.

No, not everyone in office knows the capitals of all the countries. *Looks pointedly at the three founders*. But we can’t remove them you know, they err… found us. But yes, we can judge you. Know something about the world you live in and want to write about. It helps you know, to know a bit about lands and people, history and culture. Do remember, intelligence and charm have always gone hand in hand.

The Bottomline:  Have a basic knowledge of the industry in which you work, or want to work for.

 

3) If your favourite books are ‘The Alchemist’, ‘Who Moved my Cheese’ or ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’, vamoose.

No offence to the authors, we know they are highly successful and probably employed all those seven habits to create these best sellers, but we have grown up on Blyton, Twain, Wodehouse and the likes, and have been inspired by them on how to tell a story. Edgar Allan Poe might have died a pauper, and Spencer Johnson may have a mansion in every American state, but we’d rather hire the former if we were to pick a writer. Coming to the point, we want someone who has read books beyond what was prescribed to them in their CAT coaching class.
People who quote these books can go back to their CAT classes and tell their mentors that when we heard of their teachings, we made a sound like ‘tch tch’.

The Bottom line:  Entrance exams only teach you that much, how to clear an entrance exam.  To star in an interview,  you have to go beyond that.

 

 

4) If you already have a job offer in hand, and only want to bargain on money.

It’s happened a couple of times. Barely five minutes into an interview, and these candidates told us that they have been offered x amount by so-and-so company, and they’ll join only if we pay higher. Ten on ten, we’ll politely ask you to join them, without asking how much the other company was offering.

It is absolutely alright to join a company that pays you more. But at least, don’t let the interviewer know that it is the only reason you want to join his organization, for then he might be inclined to think that you’ll leave him the day someone else offers you more. We are a young company with less than a score people on board. In such environments, in small rooms, people bond more easily. Hence, we ideally want people who we can see eye to eye with, with whom we can bond, enjoy a drink after work, and be friends with hopefully for some time to come.

The Bottom line: Money should be a prime motivation, but not the only one.

 

5) Last point’s obvious, right. Be a good writer. No, a great one!

Charm us out of our pants, man! It really takes just 5 lines of reading to know if someone can write well or not. Be a good writer, and we’ll stretch ourselves as much as we can to get you on board.

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We are always on the lookout for good writers. If you think you have some of the above qualities in you, if you like what you see here, and want to join our team, send in a mail at careers@weareholidays.com, and we’ll give you a call.